19 thoughts on “Contacts”

Hi,
I am working on an alumni newsletter for the Health & Wellness department. I wondered if you happen to have photo archives that would have any photos from the beginnings of the Health Promotion program, in the late 1980’s? Particularly I’d like to find photos of the faculty/staff in the early days, but even an event like a health fair or other event would be great.
Thank You,

“Transgender is a term that encompasses people who get sex change surgery and get top or bottom surgery, then come the people who don’t undergo top or bottom surgery,” Martens says. “It is a big umbrella term that encompasses a lot of things.”

This is something they would not say. I could see them saying it “encompasses a lot of things.” They might discuss surgery, but it wouldn’t be a part of their definition. I know for a fact that Beck would not base a definition of gender around surgeries, genitals, or other physical attributes. They recognize gender as socially constructed. Trans-ness is NOT an issue of physical characteristics.

Many trans people do get surgery to deal with gender dysphoria, many don’t. I believe that this was what Beck was probably saying; a separate quote which got mashed in with the quote defining the term transgender. Transgender generally is used to refer to someone whose gender is different the one they are assigned at birth, plain and simple. With each person, we see the variety and intricacies of this definition.

So, misquoting Beck like this is not just bad journalism. It could be inferred that trans people get surgery and that those who don’t aren’t trans. As well, it’s just a crap definition and Beck’s good name shouldn’t be tacked onto it. It may not seem like much but stuff like that can be really demoralizing to us trans folk. So if you want to get it right I suggest y’all re-edit the article and issue an apology or recognition. Maybe get Beck or another organizer in TSU to write a piece on identities. But please don’t go spreading bad information.

Beck is quoted on the tape recorder saying this exact phrase. However, the sentences leading up to their quote were written to showcase that Beck was not defining transgender in terms of somebody’s genitalia.

The sentences I am referring to specifically are these:
“Transgender individuals are oftentimes the subject of misconception, one being that a person has to have a sex change in order to be transgender, according to Injustice at Every Turn: A Report of the National Transgender Discrimination Survey by the National Center for Transgender Equality.
Beck Martens, a sophomore majoring in sociology and women’s, gender and sexuality studies, is one of the people at UNCA who is working to combat these misconceptions.”

As the person who arranged and conducted the interview, I feel that your making assumptions without evidence and accusing me of splicing two different parts of an interview together is misguided and just not correct. If you would like to come into the Banner office and hear the recording word-for-word on the tape recorder, then feel free to do so.

I have been communicating with Beck in detail regarding this issue. When someone begins to study journalism, one of the first topics addressed is the role ethics play in the field. I did my best to report Beck’s statement as accurately as possible, including every word, while also providing context to maintain the integrity of Beck’s statement.

I explained to Beck that the only thing I can think of as to the root of the misunderstanding is the phrase “then come” in the quote: “Transgender is a term that encompasses people who get sex change surgery and get top or bottom surgery, THEN COME the people who don’t undergo top or bottom surgery.”

When you come in and listen to the recording, it will be very obvious that they meant this phrase as the word “and.” But since this is the way Beck phrased the quote, this is what was printed. Again, I prefaced the quote to prevent Beck’s words from being misinterpreted. In addition, The Banner published a clarification of Beck’s words in its Sept. 23 issue.

Should you wish to write a column or opinion piece on this subject, you are always welcome to do so.

Hello from California. I was wondering if there was an update regarding the well-being of the dog that was found, totally submerged in flood water. Did he make his way back home? Was he adopted? The picture of his face, with the water up to nose has haunted me! Those were the saddest eyes I have ever seen! Please tell me he’s ok….. Thank you!

This past Saturday, two females students took a picture of my former student in downtown Asheville (fashion article). I believe they said they were with your newspaper staff. We were celebrating our 50th and 60th birthdays! I taught Sheryl Boyce in Charlotte. I was the advisor of the yearbook and she was my co-editor. I was 23 and she just 13. She now works at UNC-Charlotte. I have not seen her since that time. I retired from teaching after 35 years. Saturday was a special day for us to reconnect and your girls stopping her for her fashion picture made her day! She was so honored. I attended WCU from 1975-1979. Asheville was my hangout then and I was showing Sheryl my favorite city.

If you publish her picture, would you please contact me so that I can surprise her with a copy?

Yes, thank you for reaching out to us. We were very happy to interview Sheryl and am glad that she was honoured to be interviewed. It was such a pleasure to meet both of you ladies. The picture will be up on our Instagram: uncabluebanner, soon!

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All of our practices are “White Hat Techniques” and we strictly follow Google Webmasters Guidelines to promote our clients’ websites online. I will suggest some traffic generating keywords as per the principles of Search Engine Optimization.

If you are interested, then I can send you our past work details, company information and an affordable quotation. Please email us back to get detail.

I was analyzing your site and it seems that some of your website rankings have dropped. It is due to non optimized techniques/errors and Google guidelines not being followed properly. As you know that Google’s crawler is software and work on coding basis only.

That’s why site coding portion should be strong for better results.

I would like to present a detailed analysis of your website along with errors that your website and ways to improve your Google rankings.

It would be a detailed report and would be explained as well on Skype once we send this over to you.

Note: Kindly let me know your phone number and best timing along with time zone to give you a call to discuss more.